French general takes over key NATO command

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-30 03:29

BRUSSELS: In an unprecedented move, a French general will take over a key NATO command in Norfolk, Virginia, charged with transforming the Europe-centered Cold War alliance so it can tackle the global challenges facing it today, a statement said Wednesday.

Gen Stephane Abrial of the French Air Force will take over from US Marine Corps Gen James Mattis as NATO's commander in charge of military modernization, the alliance statement said.

The Transformation Command in Norfolk is the only strategic command within the 28-nation alliance that is headquartered in North America.

The position has traditionally been held by a four-star US general. Abrial's appointment marks the first time in NATO's 60-year history that a non-American officer has been appointed to fill the position.

Abrial is currently chief-of-staff of the French Air Force. He will take up his new duties on September 9 at a ceremony in Norfolk, the statement said.

Abrial is the second French general to assume a top NATO command since France formally rejoined the alliance in April. Earlier this month, Gen Philippe Stoltz took charge of NATO's rapid reaction force headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal.

President Nicolas Sarkozy was promised the two commands in April at NATO's 60th anniversary summit in Strasbourg, France, after Paris rejoined NATO's military command, a decision-making body within the U.S.-dominated alliance

In 1966, French President Charles de Gaulle abruptly pulled his country out of the NATO command and evicted all allied troops and bases, including its military headquarters, in an effort to assert France's sovereignty over its own territory. Although France remained a NATO member, it stayed outside the alliance's decision-making core.

NATO has two strategic commands, Allied Command Operations in Belgium, which oversees all military operations, and Allied Transformation Command in the United States, which conducts training, and develops and improves military capabilities for the Alliance.